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Nearfield and Farfield Performance of Large Woofer Arrays

In recent years it has become practical to predict coverage patterns of loudspeaker arrays using computer simulations. Comparisons of actual array performance with computer analysis reveals three interesting truths: 1) Some favorite array geometries perform better in practice than they should, 2) conventional calculations of polar patterns are inadequate to predict the performance of large arrays, and 3) computer optimization of array geometry can yield substantially better performance than what we have come to accept.